By Chelsea Reed

Lip gloss and lipsticks are the official greeters of the makeup department. Right from the start, a rainbow of colorful options entice you to try them on. “Hey! This red looks fun,” you think. The sample swatch on your arm doesn’t seem bad, either. But when you get home and pucker up at the mirror...surprise! Those blaring rhubarb lips aren’t anything like the gorgeous glam you imagined. Frustrated, you toss the used lip color into the trash can - along with your hard earned money.

Don’t want this to happen to you? We have good news to share. Read below to learn three simple strategies makeup stylists use to pair lip colors. Find out which lip colors to keep, and which ones to skip over to bring out your unique complexion. 

Strategy #1: Find Out Your Skin Tone “Temperature”

This is the most common way for beauty experts to figure out which lip colors work for you. Go out in the sunlight and look at the veins in your wrist and under your arm. Are they blue? Then your skin has cool undertones. People with cool toned skin often wear silver jewelry. If that’s you, lipsticks with blue based reds and purple hues will look beautiful! 

If your veins appear green in the sun, your skin has warm undertones. Chances are, you wear gold jewelry a lot. Lipsticks with orange and pink colors work great for people with warm undertones. If it’s not clear whether you have blue or green veins, or you see both green and blue, then surprise! You are among the fortunate folks with neutral undertones. That means you can wear almost any kind of lip color with confidence. If you need extra guidance, going with a color that complements your skin’s natural hue can help. For example, yellow skin goes great with nude, and dark skin wears bold berry colors like a champ.

Strategy #2: Lips of a Different Color

Still stumped with figuring out your skin’s undertones? Try this easy trick from makeup artists: look at the color of your lips! Pick a color that matches what you have, or a bold color based from it. For example, lips with a reddish tone look great in bright pink or cranberry. Pale lips pair well with cherry red, and dark lips are smashing in brick red and burgundy. 

Strategy #3: Color Outside the Lines

Even with these guidelines, it’s important to remember that there is plenty of creative room. Only one rule matters, and that’s finding the lip color expressing your true self. Feeling spunky? Try a daring brown or bright orange for a fun night out! You can create your own shades too with more than one color. They’re your lips after all, so go ahead. Color them however you like!

Express Yourself!

With these simple strategies… and so many fun lip colors… you can have fun shopping for lips again! You can check out the rest of Indie Beauty Market’s lip gloss collection here. Make your pucker stand out from the rest with confidence!

Chelsea Reed is a copywriter who writes online content, articles, blogs, and websites from her base in North Carolina.